Publican serves free beer after laying off 90 staff due to strict social distancing measures 

Unhappy hour: Publican serves free beer to 90 of his staff after firing them from their jobs as he is forced to close his business due to strict coronavirus social-distancing rules

  • Publican opened up beer kegs to sacked staff and jobseekers before lockdown 
  • Settlers Inn Hotel offered free beer until the bar was forced to close at noon
  • Business in Port Macqaurie remains open for takeaway food and alcohol 
  • Alistair Flower welcomes the strict new rules, despite effect on his business 
  • Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

A pub owner has thrown open his bar to devastated staff he had to lay off and other jobseekers hours before it was forced to close due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Publican Alistair Flower issued a challenge to anyone who had lost their jobs to run his kegs dry at the Settlers Inn Hotel in Port Macquarie on the New South Wales Mid North Coast on Monday morning.

About 90 sacked staff from the hotel and 100 other jobseekers enjoyed free beer while respecting strict indoor capacity and social distancing regulations now in place.

 

Settlers Inn Hotel publican Alistair Flower (centre) offered free beer to sacked staff on Monday morning before shutting down the bar at noon

The bar closed at noon as all services regarded as non-essential shutdown indefinitely, which had been announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison hours earlier.

‘I had a lot of beer that would have ultimately gone to waste and thought that anyone who had lost their jobs deserved a drink,’ Mr Flower told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘The atmosphere in the bar was very sombre and very different to one I’ve ever experienced. It was the wake up call everyone needed about what’s happening in the world right now.’

Mr Flower was inundated with online praise for the heartwarming gesture.

‘What a legend, what a great Aussie thing to say and do,’ one man posted.

One woman added: ‘True Blue Aussie spirit at its best.’

The hotel’s bottle shop and takeaway menu remains open.

Mr Flower enjoying a beer at the pub he's had for five years. Settler's Inn Hotel in Port Macquarie remains open for takeaway food and alcohol

Mr Flower enjoying a beer at the pub he’s had for five years. Settler’s Inn Hotel in Port Macquarie remains open for takeaway food and alcohol

Around 200 people who had lost their jobs due to the new rules took up the publican's invitation (pictured) on Monday morning

Around 200 people who had lost their jobs due to the new rules took up the publican’s invitation (pictured) on Monday morning

Mr Flower said his staff had been warned a week prior their jobs were at stake due to proposed lockdowns.

Up to 30 contracted hotel staff such as security guards, cleaners and entertainers were also laid off.

Mr Flower managed to keep 15 staff on.

‘That may all change tomorrow, if they follow the lockdown in the UK,’ he said. 

‘It may mean I will have the shut hotel entirely and lay off some or all of my staff.’

‘We just taking each day at a time.’ 

Alistair Flower now hopes Australians will take the coronavirus pandemic more seriously

Alistair Flower now hopes Australians will take the coronavirus pandemic more seriously

Mr Flower has three other pubs and a cafe on the NSW Mid North Coast.

Two pubs were shut down entirely while the other and cafe are still open for takeaway. 

Mr Flower has no hard feelings towards the federal and state governments, despite the devastating financial effect lockdowns will have on his businesses.

‘It’s the step the government needed to take to make people more aware about coronarvirus,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘People aren’t taken it seriously enough.’ 

Mr Flower is unsure what the future holds. Pictured is the pub before the lockdown

Mr Flower is unsure what the future holds. Pictured is the pub before the lockdown

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk